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being stripped bare on the

inside as well. Was there anything these people were not aware of Did

they know that his talk of a 'massive intervention' was nothing more

than a colossal bluff?. In spite of being painfully trussed up and

totally defenceless, he did his best to exude an air of calm

assurance.

Underneath, though, he was more frightened than he'd been in a long

time.

And also totally bewildered. His preparations for the big break, and

his last session with the Herald, had gone so well he had allowed

himself to lapse into a careless, self, congratulatory mood. He was

the guy that could do it all. And he'd swum blindly into the net. But

even if he'd been alert, he doubted whether he could have evaded his

present captors. Steve had packed in a lot of experience - much of it

painful - since emerging onto the overground. He knew he was in the

hands of hard men who, as his interrogator had revealed, were real

professionals. Christo! He'd been beavering away thinking he's gotten

himself into the big game, only to discover that there was an even

bigger game going on!

Skull-Face, who had been watching him closely, said: 'I can see you

find all of this rather difficult to take on board. But then you are

still a relative beginner. In time you will discover that those

involved in the gathering of intelligence and the maintenance of

internal security are often linked by common interests - that are not

always shared by their masters."

Steve nodded gingerly. 'I can understand that."

'For instance, we know you have been using a concealed radio to keep in

contact with AMEXICO. We also have a number of similar devices."

Skull-Face produced a compact but powerful-looking walkie-talkie that

could only have come from the Federation.

The Jap pressed the Transmit button and spoke briefly into the

mouthpiece. Steve heard someone reply with a burst of gobbledegook.

'That's our man at the Heron Pool,' explained Skull-Face. 'He's

keeping an eye on your shack. It might be awkward if someone

discovered you weren't there."

He acknowledged the message, then laid the handset on the mat between

them.

Steve followed it down with his eyes and stared at it fixedly as he

tried to come to grips with what he'd got himself into.

'Let me try and guess what you are thinking,' said Skull-Face. 'You

are trying to reconcile your discovery that our organisation is using

radios with your knowledge that what we call the Dark Light and any

object which contains it is expressly forbidden. In fact, to introduce

a device of this kind into Ne-Issan is an act of high treason."

'It did cross my mind,' admitted Steve.

'Rightly so. The Dark Light is a destructive force that must never

again be allowed to fall into the hands of the greedy or the

unscrupulous. Never again will the spinners and weavers imprison the

world in their evil nets. But we do not seek power, we merely exercise

the power we are given to maintain the status quo - and we are prepared

to use any means to achieve that end."

Skull-Face picked up the walkie-talkie and bared his teeth in what

Steve assumed to be a smile. His gums had shrunk away from his

parchment-yellow teeth. A real Dr Death.

'There is a saying that dates from The World Before: "In the country of

the blind, the one-eyed man is king." ' 'Gotcha. Smart move..."

Skull-Face nodded. 'Now tell me about yours. How did you plan to get

out of here?"

Steve told the Jap what he wanted to know. There was no point in

trying to conceal anything. If Side-Winder was working both sides of

the track, the ship-board escape route via Bu-faro was already totally

compromised. Steve explained how, after reaching the Hudson River by

air, he had planned to use Cadillac's ability to speak Japanese.

Dressed in one of Clearwater's silken robes and the white mask she had

worn on her travels, the Mute would pose as the courtesan 'Yoko

Mi-Shima'. As such, he would be able to purchase the boat-tickets, buy

food and answer any questions about the four Mute slaves accompanying

'her'. Apart from the middle finger of his right hand, Steve was

already dressed for the part. The two sets of body-paints were to be

used to disguise Jodi and Kelso whom he had recruited to help guard his

prisoners. In Clearwater's case, it was not really a disguise but a

return to her usual colouring.

Skull-Face mulled things over, then asked: 'Did HaseGawa know that the

two individuals you sought were grass-monkeys?"